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The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced plans to curtail European Union-based carriers' US wet-lease operations citing a lack of progress in removing barriers that would give US-based airlines equal access to the EU wet-lease market.

The trade dispute stems from EU regulation 1008/2008 which only allows non-EU carriers to wet-lease to EU carriers for an initial duration of seven months, with the opportunity for one extension for another seven-month period (i.e. a maximum total of 14 months).

In a show-cause order issued on February 21, the DOT said 1008/2008 had unfairly benefited EU-based operators at the expense of their US-based competitors given the department's policy has, until now, been to grant unrestricted wet-lease waivers to both US and foreign operators in the interests of boosting flexibility and commercial opportunities for all.

On the back of US airlines' repeated criticism of this skewed playing field, the DOT said it has continuously sought to resolve the matter with the EU since 2012. Following six years of talks, the drafting of the text of a wet-lease agreement between...

According to Skyliner Aviation, two of the aircraft, CS-TPA (msn 11257) and CS-TPC (msn 11287), have been ferried to Porto where they are being readied for delivery to Central America. The actual number of aircraft acquired along with delivery dates will be ironed out later this quarter.

The TAP Portugal (TP, Lisbon) unit retired the Fokker Aircraft (Woensdrecht) twinjets from commercial service late last year replacing them instead with E190s. For its part, Air Panama operates five Fokker 100s alongside two DHC-6-300s, four Fokker 50s, and two Saab 340Bs as well as smaller turboprop aircraft. It uses its diverse fleet to serve destinations across Panama as well as Colombia and Costa Rica.

The fleet renewal effort is part of the carrier's revamping which has also seen its shareholding revised. Reports out of Lisbon indicate China's HNA Group will acquire an initial 7% stake in TAP's 45% shareholder, Atlantic Gateway, with the option of increasing that stake to 20%.